Understanding how routers work will help you choose the right equipment for your home. A typical home has a range of internet-connected devices — personal computers, tablets, smartphones, printers, thermostats, smart TVs, and more.
With your router, these devices form a network. A router directs incoming and outgoing internet traffic on that network in the fastest and most efficient way. The information traveling on your home network could be an email, a movie, or a live feed from your baby cam, each of which takes up varying amounts of bandwidth.
Making sure that information is delivered quickly and correctly is a big task — and getting bigger. As you add more and more devices — think Internet of Things — you ask your router to do more.
It then connects to your router, delivering that internet connectivity to your home network. When most internet service was delivered over telephone lines, modems enabled communication between the digital devices in your home and the analog signals used on telephone lines. Wireless internet or Wi-Fi access has become a necessity in the home and workplace, but it can also open a door to risks from hackers, scammers, and identity thieves.
Most internet service providers ISPs give you a router and a modem — or a combination of the two — for a subscription fee that can add up over time. These routers may not be the best fit for your usage, so you might consider purchasing one that better fits your needs.
Before buying a router, here are a few things to look for. Wi-Fi signals within a home largely depend on the size of the home and the barriers that prevent signals from reaching their destinations. Fireplaces, mirrors, and thick walls are just a few common obstacles that block Wi-Fi signals. Look for a router that has the capability to reach the far corners of your home. Also, look for one that has a mesh network to extend the Wi-Fi capabilities across the home. Router technology has changed over time.
Make sure you have a router that uses the latest technology and has updated firmware. It stands for multi-user, multiple-input, multiple-output technology. It allows Wi-Fi routers to communicate with multiple devices simultaneously. This decreases the wait time and improves network speed.
Cybercriminals can penetrate your home network and install malware and viruses in your devices. Place each satellite in between your router and an area of your home with a poor Wi-Fi signal, and it will act as a go-between, increasing the range and improving the quality of your entire wireless network. Unlike traditional Wi-Fi extenders , which don't coordinate with your router, these mesh Wi-Fi systems were developed to work together ; they make sure that each of your devices is connected to the router or satellite that provides it the best, strongest signal.
If you want to know more about the way your router does its job, this summary of common networking terminology is a good place to start.
But these common troubleshooting and maintenance tips should help you keep your network running as smoothly and securely as possible. One possible exception is if you have a cable bundle that also includes landline phone service. Jump back. Footnotes 1. Learn how routers securely connect your small business to the rest of the world and connect your devices, including laptops and printers, to each other.
Routers connect computers and other devices to the Internet. A router acts as a dispatcher, choosing the best route for your information to travel. It connects your business to the world, protects information from security threats, and can even decide which computers get priority over others. A router helps you connect multiple devices to the Internet, and connect the devices to each other.
Also, you can use routers to create local networks of devices. These local networks are useful if you want to share files among devices or allow employees to share software tools. For example, if you'd like to print a document, you need a router to help get that document to a printer—not to another computer or a scanner. A modem connects your business to Internet access via your internet service provider ISP.
A router, on the other hand, connects many devices in a network—including modems. With a router in place, modems and other devices can transfer data from one location to another. Wired routers usually connect directly to modems or wide-area networks WANs via network cables. They typically come with a port that connects to modems to communicate with the Internet.
Routers can also connect wirelessly to devices that support the same wireless standards. Wireless routers can receive information from and send information to the Internet. Routing is the ability to forward IP packets—a package of data with an Internet protocol IP address—from one network to another. The router's job is to connect the networks in your business and manage traffic within these networks. Routers typically have at least two network interface cards, or NICs, that allow the router to connect to other networks.
Routers figure out the fastest data path between devices connected on a network, and then send data along these paths. To do this, routers use what's called a "metric value," or preference number. If a router has the choice of two routes to the same location, it will choose the path with the lowest metric. The metrics are stored in a routing table. A routing table, which is stored on your router, is a list of all possible paths in your network.
When routers receive IP packets that need to be forwarded somewhere else in the network, the router looks at the packet's destination IP address and then searches for the routing information in the routing table. If you are managing a network, you need to become familiar with routing tables since they'll help you troubleshoot networking issues.
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